No Hollow Heart
by life is short so am I
Summary: The Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, was the first to die. She is also the first to Hollowify, and after a mere two weeks, she is gone from their massacred village. A million years later, she sits back, chills, and sometimes lends a helping hand to her ridiculous little godson, Ichigo.
1. Death

**Story:** No Hollow Heart

 **Author:** life is short so am I

 **Rating:** T

 **Genre:** Adventure, angst, humor, hurt/comfort, family, romance and friendship

 **Chapter:** Death

 **Warning:** Fem!Naruto

 **Pairings:** Naruto/Jūshirō, Ichigo/Rukia, others

 **Author's Note:** Eh, I know it's a little weird. But, hey, this is fanfiction. It's made up of weird stuff.

 **Summary:** The Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, was the first go die. She is also the first to Hollowfy, and after a mere two weeks, she is gone from their massacred village. A million years later, she sits back, chills, and sometimes lends a helping hand to her ridiculous little godson, Ichigo.

 **Disclaimer:** Neither Naruto or Bleach is mine.

* * *

Her last words, before the whole village is massacred by invisible beings, were, "There's something here."

* * *

1,500,000 years ago

Naruto studied her reflection. She didn't look all that different from before she died. Her hair was still long, spiky, and vibrantly red. She still had whisker marks across both of her cheeks, and she still looked her 24 years of age. It was the differences that made her upset though. There was a white mask on her face, and it had been there ever since she had appeared in this world. In death. In Hueco Mundo.

The mask covered her left eye, and it reminded her of Kurama because of the ear that travelled past her head. Behind behind the mask, the only thing that was visible of Naruto's eye was a blood red orb. While her right eye was still the same shade of blue that it had been in life, both of her pupils were now slit, like they had been when she tapped into Kurama's power. When she was alive. Before her village had been destroyed, just a few weeks ago. Before her family had been killed by those… by those Hollows. By those monsters that had only turned visible after she had died, and had stayed visible as they massacred her village, leaving her watching, helpless.

By the monster that she had now become, after her death.

A Hollow, the only option for afterlife that anybody got. She was a Hollow, a monster. A demon like everybody had accused her of being when she was a child. She was like that monster that tore through her village, destroying everything that she had worked so hard for. The Hokage monument, the buildings, the forests. Her family. Her husband, Hinata. Her children, Boruto and Himawari. Her best friends, Sasuke and Sakura. Her comrades and her friends, her whole village. All the people she had fought so hard to protect. All gone. Dead.

Her Reiatsu reacted to her emotions, and the mirror shattered.

Grief broke through her self-hatred, and tears started streaming down from her right eye.

After a moment, they slid out from underneath her mask as well.

* * *

2500 years ago

Uzumaki Naruto hated Hueco Mundo. It was always so dull, gray, sandy, and the sun never showed itself. Even fighting the Hollows had lost its appeal after a while, because they were so weak that it was pathetic. The only good thing about Hueco Mundo was that it was where her fellow Jinchūriki resided most of their time, so she always knew she could find them there if she wanted a real fight.

No, Naruto liked the Soul Society much more than Hueco Mundo, even with all it's faults. Though her view might be slightly biased, as she was the one to help the Soul King create the existence of Shinigami, along with the Soul Society.

She was pretty proud of her brain child. Soul Society had been around for over 2000 years now, longer than many other civilizations that Naruto had known of. And the best part about the Seireitei was that the people here reacted perfectly to her pranks!

Naruto tucked her hands behind her head as she walked along a rather deserted street of the Seireitei. She was using a Henge to hide her Hollow mask as to make sure there wasn't a mass panic on the streets.

Naruto grinned when she spotted a family of three. A little boy with white hair who didn't look any more than three years old (it was hard to tell. People aged differently in death; just look at Naruto. She didn't look a day older than 24, the age that she died) was sitting on a bench in between his mother and his father. Her grin faded when she realized that there was something wrong; the boy with the white hair seemed to be trying to comfort his parents, but tears were falling from his eyes as well.

The boy suddenly burst into a fit of harsh coughs, and he raised his hands to cover his mouth weakly. Both of his parents jumped to help him, his mother running her hands through his hair, and his father rubbing his back. When the boy stopped coughing and pulled his hands away from his mouth, they were covered in blood.

Naruto bit her lip, then made a decision. She walked up to the family, and stood in front of the boy. He took immediate notice of her presence, and he looked up at her with hazel eyes shining with tears. He quickly turned to his dad, and tapped him on his knee. The father looked up sharply at Naruto and stood up.

"I see you're upset. Is there anything that I could do to help?" Naruto asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Oh," the mother said, finally noticing Naruto. She wiped away her tears, and rose off the bench to stand beside her husband. The little boy remained seated, "How kind of you to ask, but I doubt there is anything that you could do."

"Our boy here is sick," the father said, disregarding his wife's words, "And all the doctors have turned us away, saying that there was nothing that they could do."

The mother's eyes flashed, and she turned to glare at her husband. He simply shook his head, and quietly told her, "You never know, honey. This woman could be a brilliant healer."

The little boy, who had been quiet through the whole conversation blinked up at Naruto, "I am Ukitake Jūshirō. What's your name?"

Naruto simply grinned again, "Aren't you a cutie, Jūshirō-kun. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, prankster extraordinaire! And, I do happen to know a sufficient amount about healing, if you would let me have a look."

The kid's - Jūshirō's, Naruto reminded herself - eyes lit up with something akin to hope, but the mother warned, "Don't get your hopes up too high, the best doctors in the Seireitei couldn't even cure you, sweetie. Now, do not give me that look," she scolded her husband and her child in response to their stares, "I am just trying to be realistic."

"You are giving up," Jūshirō said, with a slight frown, and a disheartened look in his eyes, "It is ok mommy, it won't hurt anyone if she just took a look."

His mother softened, and a small smile grew on her face, "No, of course not sweetie. And I have not given up at all, we have one more option if this does not work," she and her husband traded looks, and he quirked a smile at her.

"You're decided then?" Naruto asked, interrupting their moment.

The mother cast a hesitant look at her child, but the father cast away all of her doubts, and gave her a kind smile, "Yes, that would be very helpful, thank you."

Naruto gave them a full blown smile, showing off her sharp looking canines, "Perfect," to Jūshirō, she said, "If you could lie down please."

"Now wait a moment," the mother objected, and Naruto inwardly rolled her eyes. The woman, though she seemed kind, was starting to get on her nerves. She blew out a breath, and tried to understand that the mother was just looking out for her child, "You want him to just lie down on the streets? Do you know how many people-"

"Honey," the husband said, exasperated, "She is trying to help. Stop your nitpicking and let her."

"This will only take a moment," Naruto assured, "You can lie down on the bench, if you'd like."

The kid did just that, and Naruto knelt on the ground beside him. It had been many, many years since her death, and Naruto had gained more control over her immense Reiatsu than she ever had over her Chakra.

She placed her hands a few inches above the boy's torso, and closed her eyes. Her hands started to glow a soft green. Naruto wasn't trying to heal him, she wasn't good enough at any of that medical shit to heal any fatal diseases. Diagnosing the problem, though, she could do easily. The green glow faded after a moment, and Naruto sat back on her heels and frowned. The boy sat up from his lying position, fiddling with his pants nervously.

"You have lung cancer," Naruto said, a displeased frown on her face.

"Lung cancer?" Jūshirō tilted his small head to the side in question.

"What is lung cancer?" the father questioned, placing a protective hand on the boy's head.

"Lung cancer is a very deadly disease," Naruto said, her brows furrowing, "I haven't really took the time to memorize all of it's symptoms, but I know they include coughing, loss of weight, and pain in the chest. If you're really unlucky, it can spread to the other parts of your body."

The mother let out a wail and picked up her son, cradling him close to her chest, "My baby boy," she cried. The father stood there, frozen in shock. Jūshirō's eyes were wide with fear, and he looked helplessly at Naruto.

"Now hold on a moment, don't you start grieving, he's not dead yet," Naruto said, annoyance seeping in. She caught Jūshirō's eye and gave him a reassuring smile, "I didn't say that the cancer spread, and I didn't say that I couldn't heal it."

"You mean it?" Jūshirō asked, his voice disbelieving, "You can heal me?"

A fond smile grew over Naruto's face, and she jumped up to give them her good guy pose, "You bet it, 'ttebayo!"

The mother set Jūshirō down and then pulled Naruto into a tight hug, "Thank you," she sobbed. Surprised by her actions, Naruto let out a shocked squeak. Her shock grew tenfold when the father wrapped his arms around both of them, and when Jūshirō joined in, hugging Naruto's legs.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" the small boy chanted.

"Okay, okay," Naruto laughed, "You can let me go now, it's no problem!"

"You just told us that you're going to save my boy's life," the father said, looking her in the eyes, "There is nothing I can do to repay this debt."

"Oh, no, no!" Naruto said, rubbing the back of her neck, "You don't have to owe me anything!"

"Really?" the mother questioned, "As much as I appreciate this, you're just going to do this out of the good of your own heart?"

Naruto smiled awkwardly, "Sure. There's nothing that you could give me that I would want anyways."

Jūshirō smiled happily, and held out his arms to her. Naruto's eyes softened. She loved children, but it had been so long since she had seen her own. They had died with the village when the Hollows massacred it, and she had never seen them again.

She picked the boy up, and smiled at him. He wrapped his small, frail, arms around her her neck in a hug, "Thank you," he whispered, his small voice sincere.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto grinned, "Now, let's get this healing process on the road," she set Jūshirō down on the bench, "Now, this won't take long at all, I use special techniques that will take most of his sickness away."

"Most of it?" the Mother asked, her brow furrowing in worry.

"Yes, most of it," Naruto nodded, "It will stop the disease from being fatal, but you will still have some leftover symptoms. Don't worry though," she assured to their worried looks, "They won't be as severe as they are now. It is likely that you will only retain the coughs, but to a lesser degree."

Jūshirō chewed the inside of his cheek but nodded along with what she was saying.

"Now, I need you to lift up your shirt so that I can reach your lungs," Naruto said as she pulled an inkwell and and ink brush out of nowhere.

The young boy pulled up his shirt to his chin, "This will tickle a little, but I want you to stay perfectly still, okay?" Naruto asked.

"Kay," Jūshirō said, determination filling his eyes.

Naruto quickly drew a sequence of detailed out on his chest. Jūshirō tensed up, and bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. Once she was finished, Naruto calmly placed her brush and the inkwell on the ground beside her.

"Once I activate this, it will hurt," she warned.

Jūshirō reached for his parents, and each of them grabbed his hands, "M'scared," he mumbled.

"Hey, hey," Naruto said, "It's alright, this will take away all of the pain that you feel, and you'll be better. It doesn't even hurt that much. It hurts a lot less than breaking a bone would."

Jūshirō looked at her with wide eyes, "Promise?"

"I swear it," Naruto grinned, "And Uzumaki Naruto never breaks her promise!"

Jūshirō nodded, his resolve thickening, "Okay! Do it!"

Naruto activated the seal, and Jūshirō squeezed his eyes shut to block out the pain. His grip on his parents hands tightened.

After a minute the pain faded, the the boy opened his eyes, "I felt," his words faltered as he let go of his parents hands and pressed both hands to the spot where the seal had been, "Where did it go?"

The paper of the seal was gone, leaving only the mark, the black of the ink contrasting against the boy's pale skin.

"There," Naruto said proudly, "It's all over."

Jūshirō blinked weakly up at her. His mother knelt before him and cupped his face, "You are all better," she laughed.

The father stood up, and addressing Naruto, he bowed deeply, "Thank you for saving my son, Naruto-san. The Ukitake Clan is in your debt."

Naruto waved her hands in denial, "No, no no! No debts! You can pay off your debt by not have a debt to me!"

"Just the same," the mother said, giving her a small bow, much to Naruto's dismay, "We will always remember this."

"It was no problem," Naruto said sheepishly. Honestly, if everybody was going to keep make such a big fuss whenever she did something nice for free, she would stop going around saving people's lives, "You don't have to thank me, honest."

"You saved my life," Jūshirō declared, "Of course I have to thank you."

Naruto sent him a betrayed look, "Not you too, Jūshirō-kun!"

Jūshirō just grinned at her.

* * *

2000 years ago

Ukitake Jūshirō decided that Kyōraku Shunsui was possibly the most annoying person he had ever met. He also happened to be the bestest friend that he had ever had. While Jūshirō was wildly popular at the academy, nobody was as close to him as Shunsui. Nobody pushed his limits quite like him either.

Take now for example. Shunsui was dragging Jūshirō behind him as they ran away from old man Yamamoto, the Shinigami who created the academy. They had both successfully pulled off a prank on him, something that had been rumored impossible by their fellow students at the academy. Shunsui had wanted to prove them wrong, so here they were.

Shunsui let out a laugh, wild and exuberant, and Jūshirō felt the corners of his lips twitching up, despite his fears of the old man catching them.

"This way," Shunsui urged, rounding around corner sharply, then herding him into an alcove right beyond the corner. They had both used a Kidō spell to hide their Reiatsu, so the old man ran straight past them, as they were hidden from sight. As the old man rushed past them, the bright pink wig they had glued to his head waved behind him.

A snicker came from behind them, and both Shunsui and Jūshirō jumped and spun around, because the snicker was decidedly female, which neither Shunsui or Jūshirō were thank you very much.

"Were you the ones that glued that wig on his head?" the girl - woman, really, she looked to be in her twenties, but then again, looks could be deceptive in the Seireitei - giggled.

She had the academy's female uniform, but Jūshirō had never seen her before, and he knew most of the students at the school. But even if he didn't know her, than Shunsui undoubtedly did, because he knew all the female students at the school.

Before Shunsui even had time to open his mouth, Jūshirō knew that he was going to flirt with the woman, beautiful as she was. She reminded him of someone, though he couldn't quite remember who. The name was on the tip of his tongue…

"So, I haven't seen you around," Shunsui said, smiling flirtatiously, "I'm Shunsui, Kyōraku Shunsui, and this is my friend Ukitake Jūshirō. Are you new here? I would be glad to show you the ropes."

The woman stared at him like she had never been flirted with before, which Jūshirō thought unlikely. She blinked, and cocked her head to the side in confusion, "I am not a student at this school," she said slowly, "I'm just wearing the uniform so I can prank the old guy."

"You are not a student here?" Jūshirō asked, "But why would you go through all the trouble to steal a uniform just to prank old man Yamamoto?"

"It's something of a game we have," she explained patiently, her blue eyes sparkling mischievously, "I drive him to the brink of insanity, he attempts to kill me, then the cycle restarts."

Jūshirō and Shunsui traded looks, then stared at her in abject horror. Yamamoto Genrūsai was one of the strongest Shinigami that the Seireitei had to offer, and this woman said that she had him trying to kill her like it was nothing.

"...what?" Shunsui wondered.

"His reactions are always so funny," the woman giggled, like him trying to kill her was nothing but a funny reaction, "He always gets so mad when I sneak into the Seireitei - oops. I wasn't supposed to say that."

"Sneak into the Seireitei?" Jūshirō frowned, "Are you not a Shinigami?"

Jūshirō and Shunsui's eyes sharpened on her, their hands moving to their Zanpakuto. If she didn't belong in the Seireitei, then she was obviously an enemy of it.

The woman noticed their movements and frowned, "Please, it's not like I'm hurting anybody. And not even the shitty old geezer can take me down. What makes you think that you, academy students can?"

"We can try," Shunsui growled, all traces of his good humor gone. Neither of the boys had unlocked their Zanpakuto, but they would fight with all that they had.

"There you are!" the old man shouted, having had finally found them, and he was trembling with fury. The two boys started, but their eyes did not leave the enemy, "Do you think that - _you_ ," he hissed, noticing the woman. She grinned and gave him a two fingered wave.

She allowed her henge to drop, revealing her Hollow mask. Shunsui and Jūshirō's jaws dropped in shock.

"Hiya, Jiji!" she chirped.

"I am not your grandfather!" he snarled, "How dare you address me in such an informal manner, Hollow!"

"Hm, true, I am older than you," the woman mused, "I guess I'll just have to find a better nickname for you then," she turned her gaze onto Jūshirō, "Ukitake Jūshirō, is your name, correct?"

"What interest do you have with my student?" Yamamoto spat.

"I hope your lungs are feeling better," she grinned, ignoring Yamamoto, which angered him even more, "I hadn't used that seal many times before, so it was a bit of a prototype. I'm glad to see that you haven't died."

Jūshirō furrowed his brows in confusion, and Shunsui whispered, "Jūshirō, what is she talking about?"

"How would you know about my lungs?" he demanded. His eyes widened as realization struck him, "Unless… it can't be. You're the woman who healed me?"

She gave him a smile so wide that she had to close her eyes to accommodate it, "Uzumaki Naruto, in the flesh!"

"But - but you can't be her," Jūshirō cried in disbelief, "You're a Hollow! She was so kind that day, she saved my life and didn't expect any payment! That is not what Hollows do!"

"Yeah, well," Naruto shrugged, carelessly folding her hands behind her head, "I've never really been what people call 'normal'. Stuff like that is way too boring."

"Enough talking, Hollow," Yamamoto snarled, "You are a menace to society, and I can no longer allow you to live. Today is the day I exterminate you."

"Ooh, we're going to the big words now, are we?" Naruto taunted, "Are you going to take off your shirt to battle me again?" her voice became annoyingly high pitched, and she fluttered her eyelashes at him.

One second they were there, and the next, they had disappeared. Jūshirō and Shunsui traded looks, then sprinted off towards the highest spiritual energy they could sense. It was the old man's, but he was undoubtedly battling with the hollow from the way that his spiritual energy was fluxing.

The two Shinigami in training arrived on the scene to see Naruto dancing around the old man. Or, at least, he appeared to be the old man. He had blindingly orange skin, his beard was dyed bright neon green and his clothes had been substituted for a frilly blue dress. The man was a beacon. Shunsui had to struggle to keep from laughing, and even Jūshirō felt his lips fighting away a smile.

The hollow glanced at them. "Oh hey! What took you so long?" She complained. "You really need to relearn the shunpo if that's the fasted that you could get here."

"If you're a hollow then why did you heal me?" Jūshirō demanded.

Naruto turned her full attention on to him, smiling. "Why would I need a reason to heal anybody? You were a little boy and you were dying. I saved you. Is that not what anybody else would have done?"

"Yes, but you're a _hollow_ ," Jūshirō stressed.

Naruto shrugged. "If one get's to be a high level hollow, they get their personalities back. I'm not a mindless soul eating machine like the hollow's that you've encountered."

Jūshirō's hardened expression wavered. He knew all about hollow evolution, but he had never heard what she was telling him about regaining personalities.

Beside him, Shunsui tilted his head to the side. "Just for the sake of argument, why should we believe you over the Shinigami?"

Naruto grinned at them. "Has your Shinigami ever had a conversation with high leveled hollows before? No, they try to kill us and we defend ourselves or become very unimpressed and leave." Right before disappearing, she winked and said, "Think about it."

Just as Naruto disappeared, Yamamoto's zanpakuto cut through the air she was just occupating.

Jūshirō could swear that he heard the faint sounds of impish laughter carried by the wind.


	2. More Death

**Story:** No Hollow Heart

 **Author:** life is short so am I

 **Rating:** T

 **Genre:** Adventure, angst, humor, hurt/comfort, family, romance and friendship

 **Chapter:** More Death

 **Warning:** Fem!Naruto

 **Pairings:** Naruto/Jūshirō, others

 **Author's Note _(PLEASE READ THIS)_ : ****Wow this got so many reviews, favourites and follows! You're all lovely! Look, some of you don't really like the Ichigo/Rukia pairing, but honestly it won't be that big of a pairing. It's not relevant now and I haven't made any real plans around it, so I could probably change it to something else, or just have nothing at all. If you want to suggest a different pairing that you'd like, then PM me or tell me in a review.**

 **Summary:** The Hokage, Uz umaki Naruto, was the first go die. She is also the first to Hollowfy, and after a mere two weeks, she is gone from their massacred village. Thousands of years later, she sits back, chills, and sometimes lends a helping hand to her ridiculous little godson, Ichigo.

 **Disclaimer:** Ha! I _wish_ I owned Naruto and Bleach!

* * *

Naruto ran through the hospital. She put her slight stature to good use, dodging around the various people crowding up the halls, "Late!" the woman screeched, "I'm LATE! Move it people, I've got to get to a very important pregnancy that can't be missed! I can't leave Masaki with that blubbering idiot, Isshin! My precious person is way too important!"

Despite her words having no effect on the people around her, she continued yelling as she ran through the hallways of the hospital, "I AM _NOT_ GOING TO MISS THIS BIRTH, DATTEBAYO! Move! Yes you! I'm talking to you with the fork in your neck! Move it, move it, move - oh, I'm here!" Naruto skidded to a stop, her red hair flying every which way.

She burst into the room, paying no heed to the dramatically startled Isshin, and ran straight to Masaki, "Are you okay? Have you given birth yet? Is Ichigo here?"

Masaki gave her a pained and tired, but radiantly happy smile, "Oh, Naruto, you just missed the birth. He's beautiful. Would you like to see him?" She held out her arms, showing her a tiny little baby with a tuft of orange hair wrapped in a blue blanket.

Ichigo was sleeping soundly, and Naruto took a moment to admire his hair. It was so nice and orange! It looked so soft! And _orange_!

Isshin chose that time to disrupt the moment before Naruto could take the baby, "Oi! Hey! That's my kid! My first son! Why does she get to hold him before I do, huh?"

"Because I'm his godmother!" Naruto slammed her fist onto Isshin's head, and he lunged at her, which resulted in an all out brawl in the middle of the room.

"Calm down, calm down!" Masaki called out in a strained voice, "Don't fight in front of Ichigo-kun!"

Kicking Isshin out the window solved the father vs. godmother problem, and Naruto was happily cooing over Ichigo by the time Isshin crawled back into the room.

He was, after all, her baby godson, and the newest addition to her precious family. She wasn't going to let anything happen to the kid.

* * *

"Well," Isshin rationalized, trying to do anything to get the terrifying look off of Naruto's face. "At least you were here for this one."

Naruto turned her formidable glare onto Isshin, whispering so that she wouldn't wake the soundly sleeping Masaki, "Your wife decided that she was only going to give birth to one twin today, and tried to _get up and leave_ once Yuzu was born. The whole hospital could hear her screaming, the thing with the thing and the thing went wrong and she almost died, Ichigo is _still_ quoting some of the swear words that she used, and these chairs are the most uncomfortable thing that I have ever had the displeasure of sitting on," the glare slid off her face as she looked down at the two sleeping newborn girls she held in her arms. "But you're right. I was here."

"Fuck this shit," Ichigo parroted from his father's arms.

Isshin sighed and slammed his head against the wall.

Naruto simply rolled her eyes. "Ichigo, if you don't stop repeating the things that you heard your mom say today then I'm not going to let you hold your sisters."

Ichigo gasped in abject horror. He had been wanting to hold his little sisters since his mom had told him that they were growing in her belly. He slapped his hands over his mouth and nodded his head frantically. "No more bad words!" He squeaked.

Naruto smiled as Isshin watched in amazement. "Good. Now, if you want to hold your sisters, I need you to sit on the ground, ok?"

Ichigo clambered off his father's lap and was obediently sitting on the floor within seconds.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Isshin asked hesitantly. "He's only four…"

"Nonsense," Naruto waved him off, inwardly surprised at the fact that the usually laid back Isshin was being protective. "Four year olds can hold babies if you just show them how. Ichigo's smart, and he loves them to bits already. No way he's going to drop them."

Ichigo squirmed impatiently. "Can I hold my sisters now?"

"Sure!" Naruto grinned. "But you can only hold one at a time. Who do you want to hold first? Yuzu or Karin?"

"Yuzu because she was born first!" Ichigo declared. "That way Karin doesn't have to wait longer for me to hold her!"

"Nice logic," Isshin muttered.

Ichigo, recognizing the tone to his father's voice but not knowing what he meant, stuck his tongue out at him.

Naruto snickered at the look on Isshin's face. "What? No comeback?"

"Goddamn four year olds," Isshin grumbled beneath his breath. "No respect."

Ichigo ignored his father so that he could turn to Naruto and demand, "I want Yuzu now."

Forcing herself not to coo at his cuteness, Naruto gently placed Karin in Isshin's arms before she knelt beside Ichigo. "Alright Ichigo, you see how I'm holding Yuzu? She's in my lap and I'm holding her head up and I'm being very gentle with her?"

Ichigo nodded his head, studying the way that Naruto was holding Yuzu with great intensity.

"Good!" Naruto said encouragingly. "Now, I'm going to give you Yuzu. You have to make sure to hold her exactly the way I'm holding her, ok?"

"Yep!" Ichigo said cheerfully. He stretched out his arms for Yuzu.

"Alright," Naruto said as she carefully placed Yuzu in his arms, adjusting his arms so that he was holding her properly.

Ichigo looked down at her with wonder in his eyes. "Yuzu," he whispered. He looked up at Naruto and Isshin. "She's so tiny, and light, and weird looking," he said worriedly. "Is she ok?"

Isshin smiled at his innocent question. "Yes, Yuzu's just a newborn. She's supposed to be that way, every baby does. Even you!"

"Her skin is all red, and she's wrinkly," Ichigo was still concerned, especially about him looking just like what Yuzu does. "I thought only old people like Daddy were supposed to be wrinkly."

Isshin's face turned red and he opened his mouth to yell, but Naruto elbowed him in the side, mindful of the baby he held in his arms, and hissed, "Shhhhh, Masaki and the babies are still sleeping. If Yuzu wakes up and starts to cry, it'll break Ichigo's heart."

Isshin took a deep breath before gritting out between his teeth, "Brat, I'm not old and I don't have wrinkles."

Naruto snorted. "Not old my ass."

"At least I'm younger than you," Isshin shot back, making sure to keep his voice low so Ichigo wouldn't take any notice of their conversation.

Naruto pulled a face at him, "And yet I don't have wrinkles."

Isshin scowled at her. "Don't give me that! I look young! I look like I'm in the prime of my life!"

Naruto smirked. "And I look like I'm barely into my twenties. I win, dattebayo." Inwardly, Naruto cursed herself for the verbal tic. She had been trying to kick that habit.

"What does dattebayo mean?" Ichigo asked, looking up from where his was playing with Yuzu. "You say it a lot."

Naruto scowled, "It means nothing. And it's among the list of things you don't ever want to repeat if you want to hold your sisters again," she threatened.

Ichigo nodded his head vigorously, "Yes! Ok!"

Naruto sighed and allowed the anger to slip off her face, managing to ignore Isshin's snickers. "Do you want to hold Karin now?" She offered.

Ichigo glanced down at Yuzu then looked back up to her. "Yeah, I'll hold Karin now," he decided before looking back down at Yuzu, "I'll protect you always, because my name means number one guardian," he whispered.

Smiling softly, Naruto took Yuzu from him before Isshin placed Karin into his arms. Ichigo looked just as enamoured with Karin as he did Yuzu.

Naruto shook her head and said to Isshin, "And you were worried about him holding them."

"In my defence I didn't know that he would take his name so literally," Isshin protested.

Naruto rolled her eyes, "Seriously? You know how much Masaki repeats it to him. You seriously thought that he wouldn't begin to think of himself that way?"

"Look!" Ichigo exclaimed. "Karin's awake!"

Isshin and Naruto whirled around to stare at the two siblings. Karin was staring blearily up at Ichigo.

"Awww," Naruto cooed. "Look at her eyes! This one's going to take after me! Just you watch."

"I pray to any deity listening that this isn't true," Isshin deadpanned. Then he furrowed his eyebrows and said, "You aren't even related to her. So my kid is safe from being anything like you."

Naruto, holding Yuzu in one arm punched him with the other. Isshin hit the ground hard and did not get back up. "I'm going to be around so much that it won't matter whether we're related or not," she said haughtily.

"That's Naruto and Daddy," Ichigo told Karin, beaming when her tiny fingers grasped onto his own tiny finger. "They always fight 'n Naruto always wins because she's way better than Daddy."

Isshin gave a muffled protest while Naruto struck a one handed good guy pose.

* * *

Naruto sighed as she looked around the room. There were nine chairs - really more like thrones - surrounding a large table, four on one side, five on the other. Each one was a different colour than the other and each one, besides hers, had a person sitting it it. Behind each chair there was their respective zanpakuto spirit - in other words, the Tailed Beasts. It was strange that the Tailed Beasts were sitting there, because they usually just ran off and did whatever they wanted after they had been released. Sitting around and listening to their former Jinchūriki argue was not one of those things.

They were all staring at her, with the exception of Gaara, who was sleeping. Thousands of years later, and he's still catching up on lost sleep, Naruto thought affectionately.

"Naruto!" Fū laughed, standing from her seat. "It's been so long since I saw you! What, twenty years? Thirty?"

Naruto laughed, "Try forty."

"Really?" Fū asked, scratching her chin thoughtfully. "I could've sworn it was less time than that…"

"So," Naruto said, giving Killer B a props as she took a seat in her chair. "What's everybody been up to these days?"

She slid her Zanpakutō out of it's place at her hip and slipped it into the specialized sheath on her chair. Kurama materialized behind her, and she sent him a grin that he rolled his eyes at. He didn't know what the obvious tension in the air was all about either, but he was just as obviously curious. Naruto rolled her eyes. Fū had probably just gotten into a fight with Utakata again.

"Well for one," Rōshi grumbled. "None of us were so busy that we were _two days late to the meeting._ Gaara was more useful than you, and he was sleeping the entire time!"

Gaara woke with a start at the sound of his name, surprisingly dignified for one who had just been sleeping. "Is Naruto here yet?"

"Eha," Naruto laughed, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "I was taking care of Ichigo, Yuzu and Karin?"

"Ichigo, Yuzu and Karin? Did you have some kids that you never told any of us about?" Killer B asked, leaning forward eagerly, along with everybody else. Naruto still wasn't used to him speaking normally after he grew out of his raping phase two centuries ago.

Naruto rolled her eyes. "No," she said exasperatedly. "Seriously, will you guys stop with the kids thing? You know we can't have any. They're kids of a friend of mine. Besides, nothing interesting _ever_ happens in Hueco Mundo. We only ever end up goofing off during these meeting anyways. I don't know why we have them twice every century, other than the fact that it's awesome to see you all."

" _Au contraire_ ," Yugito smoothly interjected into Naruto's rant. "Some very interesting things have been going on in Hueco Mundo."

Naruto raised a challenging eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

"If you had been here, you would have known already," Yagura muttered snidely.

"Quiet, Yagura," Utakata murmured. "If we make useless comments, this meeting will go on forever. As it usually does. And you know that she won't change. Look at her. It's been how many thousands of years and she's _still_ wearing that awful shade of orange."

Naruto's head snapped around so fast that she would have gotten whiplash had she been an ordinary person.

"Ohhhhhh," Fū said, rubbing her hands together with a manic grin stretching across her face. "Do I sense a fight coming on?"

"You do realize," Rōshi said slowly, ignoring the frantic head shaking and motions for him to stop by the others around the table. "That your eyes are the exact same colour as the clothing Utakata just insulted?"

Killer B slapped his hand to his face while Yagura slammed his head onto the table and let out a low, drawn out moan of despair. Everybody else had more a little more dignity, but only a little.

Fū's demeanor instantly changed. She glared at Utakata, and the combined force of Naruto's and Fū's killing intent made Utakata sweat, but he still held his ground.

"Now you've done it," Han sighed. "Not only is Naruto angry, and you always know how that turns out, but Fū is mad now too. This meeting truly _is_ going to take forever."

Yugito sighed. She stood up from her spot on the second chair and calmly walked her way across the table to Utakata's seat at the sixth seat. She smacked him across the head, then moved on to smack Fū at the seventh seat and Naruto at the ninth seat.

"You all," she said firmly. "Are being idiots. Utakata, apologize and maybe their revenge won't be as cruel as they undoubtedly plan on making it. Naruto, Fū, stop being pissbabies. You've had worse insults."

Naruto's anger was playful in its nature. She liked to pretend to be angry, simply because she liked to see what everybody's reaction to her anger would be. Except Yugito's, of course. That woman didn't put up with any shit. However good an actor Naruto was, Yugito always figured her out. Had she actually been angry, the woman would have reacted in a much different way. However, this way was the best to calm Fū down, so this was the way she acted.

Fū glared at Yugito, rubbing the back of her head. "He insulted my eye colour," she grumbled, settling back down into the chair grudgingly. "You can bet your lesbian ass I'm planning revenge."

Yugito raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her, already back in her seat. "My being a lesbian has nothing to do with this. And you're one to talk."

"Oh come on!" B said exasperatedly. "We're not getting into this again, are we? Honestly, who here really cares about gender anymore?"

Slowly, Rōshi raised his hand. B gave him a hard look. "And you can honestly say that you've never been with a male before?"

Rōshi lowered his hand, an uncomfortable look on his face. He clearly didn't like discussing his love life. Or perhaps his lack of one.

Gaara rolled his eyes. "And how many of us actually have love lives nowadays? Everybody dies within a hundred years or so, most of the time much less than that. Look at Fū, she hasn't even tried anybody else since her last fling died," Fū pursed her lips together. Usually the woman was set off by anything, but if Grimmjow was mentioned, she just went into a depressive state. She had truly been in love with him.

Ignorant to Fū's internal crisis and everybody else's glares, Gaara continued. "Yugito is the exception, but her partner is a Shinigami, so that's a little different."

Naruto grinned. She loved it when they talked about sexual orientation, which was so much more free now than it had been when she had been alive. When she was alive it had been frowned upon to be anything other than hetrosexual, but it wasn't actually illegal. Nowadays though, it was much better. In some places of the world, at least.

In an attempt to get them all back on track, Yagura said, "Oh come on, you all moan and groan about these meetings taking forever, but when it comes down to it you all are just as bad as Naruto. Seriously, do you want this thing to take months again?"

Utakata, (who had yet to apologise, he had always hated to admit that he was in the wrong) nodded in agreement. "Yes, Naruto still doesn't know what's going on in Hueco Mundo."

Naruto tilted her head to the side, beginning to get excited. If the others had acknowledged it, then it must be a pretty big deal.

Yugito leaned forward, an angry frown on her face. "You know of the Shinigami called Sōsuke Aizen, correct?"

Naruto stretched her mind. She had heard the name before, but she had known so many people in her time and it was hard to remember them all. And it wasn't like she visited the Soul Society all that often anyways. After a moment of dredging through half-forgotten memories though, she finally said, "He's the bastard of a captain that created the Visored and then blamed it on Kisuke, isn't he?"

Yugito clenched her fist so tightly that her knuckles started turning white. "Yes, well, we've learned that his traitorous acts have gone much further than his past experiments. He's been here. In Hueco Mundo."

Naruto's gaze sharpened and all of her amusement drained away. "I have heard of a Shinigami that has been stirring up trouble these past few decades, but I thought it was just the Shinigami that lives in the Forest of Menos was causing all these rumours."

Han nodded, frowning, "It's a logical assumption. I thought that too, at first. But this Aizen… what he is doing goes far beyond simply killing Hollows."

"You know that I don't like to meddle in the affairs of the Shinigami. We all agreed that we'd leave them to their own business," Yugito sighed. "But this time… this time it's different."

B nodded along with her words. "Yugito's right. It is different this time."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "How's that?"

"We've all known that Aizen was a traitor for a long time," Gaara intoned. "He's done many experiments on Hollows and Shinigami alike. Up until now, we haven't known the purpose for that though."

Naruto rolled her eyes impatiently. "Yes, yes, I've got that. Stop being pansies and just tell me already, won't you? And you all say that _I'm_ the one that always takes up so much time during these, geez."

"He want's to overthrow the Soul King," Fū blurted out. She slapped her hands over her mouth the second the words came out. "Me and my big mouth," she muttered.

Naruto's expression darkened against her will. Her fists tightened around the arm rests on her chair. Her Killing Intent was so heavy that the others leaned away from her. B, the only person who was seated beside her froze in place.

Kurama, who had been a silent observer up until then, chose that moment to rumble out, " **Oi, brat. That's the most anger you've felt since the last time you visited the Soul King, careful about letting it all out here. This place can handle a whole lot, but the full brunt of your Killing Intent is not one of those things."**

Naruto took a deep, calming breath and unclenched her hands from the arm rests, leaving dents from where she had been clutching her fingers too tight. Slowly, her Killing Intent faded away. She covered her face with her hands and rubbed her eyes. When she uncovered her face, she leaned back in her chair and the only evidence of her fury was the trembling in her hands and the terrifying expression across her face.

Collectively, everybody in the room gave a relieved sigh. Terrifying expressions they could deal with. Naruto so angry that she wouldn't even notice the walls caving in on her due to her Killing Intent? That was high up on the list of things they'd like to avoid.

"Naruto," Gaara said.

Naruto refused to look him in the eye. "What."

"I think it's time you told us what happened the last time you were at the Soul King Palace," he said gently. It was surprising that even Gaara, who even thousands of years later, was still just about as emotionally stunted as he had been back in life, was able to figure out that the best thing for her would be talking about it right now. Or perhaps it was thousands of years later that he was emotionally stunted?

"I-" Naruto sighed. "I guess you're right. The last time the Soul King and it met… well, I learned something."

* * *

Naruto approached the grave once everybody had left, even the lingering family. She had no want to see them at the moment, and she highly doubted that they wanted to see her either.

She held no flowers in her hands, nor was she wearing black like all the other people had been. Finally, she walked up to the shrine, and sat on the ground in front of it. "Funny," she began, tracing her fingers over the familiar kanji of her friends name. "To think that just a few months ago, you were playing with your kids, laughing at your husband's stupidity, laughing at _my_ stupidity. When I came back, I didn't think you'd be dead. I could have stopped this from happening, you know. You have the most inconvenient timing. Why does everything have to happen when I'm gone, eh Masaki? First all those Witch Trials, then World War One, and now you."

Naruto looked up at the clear blue sky. She wiped the tears off her cheeks and gave a weak chuckle. "I didn't think that it was supposed to rain today."

"Naruto?" Ichigo said from behind her. "It's not raining."

Naruto didn't jump. Without turning around, she said, "Jeez kid, ruin my dramatic scene why don't 'cha."

Ichigo sat beside her. "Mommy's dead," he said in a small voice.

Naruto looked down at him, but the boy resolutely stared at his mother's name on the stone slab. Naruto gave a sad sigh. "Yeah. What're you doing up here Ichigo?"

"I brought him here," Isshin said.

This time, Naruto did jump. "You're getting better at hiding your Spiritual Pressure."

"You're getting worse at sensing it," Isshin retorted.

Yuzu, guided by Karin, sat on the other side of Naruto. The whole Kurosaki family had red puffy eyes as proof to their tears.

Naruto looked back at the grave marker. Again, she sighed then wrapped her arms around her godchildren. "You know what they say. Grief dulls the senses."


End file.
